Laravel Checking If a Record Exists

php
// Using exists()
if (User::where('email', Input::get('email'))->exists()) {
    // User with the given email exists
}

php
// Using first()
$user = User::where('email', Input::get('email'))->first();
if ($user !== null) {
    // User with the given email exists
}

php
// Using firstOrCreate()
$user = User::firstOrCreate([
    'email' => Input::get('email'),
], [
    'name' => Input::get('name'),
    'password' => bcrypt(Input::get('password')),
]);

if ($user->wasRecentlyCreated) {
    // User was just created
} else {
    // User already existed
}

The `exists()` method directly checks if any records match the given constraints, returning a boolean value[1][3][4].

Alternatively, you can use `first()` to retrieve the first matching record and check if it is not null[1][2].

Another useful method is `firstOrCreate()`, which checks if a record exists based on the given constraints, and if not, creates a new record with the provided attributes[3][5].

To determine if the record was just created, you can check the `wasRecentlyCreated` property of the model instance[5].